Harry Potter Drabbles
by Celandine Brandybuck
Summary: This collection of drabbles [100 word snippets] is quite varied in subject and rating, from G up to R. It includes gen, het, and slash.
1. Holiday

**Author's note:** The following four drabbles were all written by request for the holiday season in 2004.

Written for darkladyothsith.

**In the Common Room**

The scarred wood was strewn with leather-bound volumes and rolls of parchment, most of the latter already covered with her small neat handwriting, but just now Hermione's attention was not on the open page before her. Harry and Ron at the far end of the table were making their usual pretense at studying, but really they were talking about the latest Quidditch match.

Hermione ran her quill along the edge of the parchment that held her Arithmancy homework, double-checking it. The sound of laughter from the other end of the table raised the familiar double response of irritation and self-satisfaction.

* * *

Written for jelazakazone. 

******Holiday**

"...seven, eight, nine!" Tilth laid the last candle down next to the multi-armed brass candlestick that stood in a window embrasure of the Ravenclaw dormitory. "Hurry, Dobby," she called. "The students are coming back!"

Her fellow house-elf quickly finished straightening the covers on the last of the six beds. Together they slipped out of the room before they were seen at work.

"We must remember to check the candles every day for the next week, so that if one burns too short we can replace it," Tilth remarked.

Dobby pulled up his mismatched socks. "Dobby will remember," he said proudly.

* * *

Written for my Significant Other.

**Pensieve**

Sometimes when Dumbledore looked at Harry, it was James Potter he saw. The years melted away, and instead of Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, it was Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew who seemed to be sitting next to the boy at the Gryffindor table. Time had taught Dumbledore to observe without being seen; a good thing. What he had done already had endangered Harry. Too-visible evidence of Dumbledore's attention – no, be honest, affection – would make matters worse. So he clapped his hands for the opening of the new year at Hogwarts, and kept his eyes turned away.

* * *

Written for dorothynoland.

**Lead Us Not. . .**

_Remember, he is not a friend._

Looking at Malfoy, Harry recalled the discussion he had had with Ron and Hermione, when they encouraged him in this mad idea.

"Of course it can go wrong, but we need to get him on our side," Hermione had said earnestly.

"I've seen him watching Harry," Ron had agreed. "If anything might work. . . Harry, you have to try it."

So now he was here, with the Head Boy, clumsily trying to seduce him to the cause of right. When his kiss was returned, Harry began to wonder if perhaps Malfoy had the same plan.


	2. New Year's

**Author's note:** These drabbles were written for a challenge at the Hex Files, which gave three possible opening sentences for a New Year's drabble.

**Time Kissed Goodbye**

Harry woke New Year's day with a blinding headache. He lay still and tried to remember just what he had done the previous evening to cause his present discomfiture. Ten bottles of butterbeer could not have done it; butterbeer was safe even for first-years to drink. Maybe it had been the overly-loud music of the Weird Sisters, or the heat and crowd during the dancing? Not that Harry had danced himself, much. But this was worse than that could account for. Suddenly Harry remembered, and chuckled sardonically to himself. At least Draco Malfoy would have just such a headache, too.

* * *

**"There was a laughing devil in his sneer"**

It was almost midnight, and Draco scanned the party for the recipient of his New Year's kiss. All he was certain of was that it would _not_ be Pansy Parkinson; the silly cow thought she owned him, just because he had taken her to a few dances. How to show her that a Malfoy could not be possessed?

He skirted the small tables with abandoned drinks cluttering their tops. Nearly everyone was dancing, no surprise there. Ahead Pansy simpered and beckoned, but as the clock struck the hour, Draco turned away. "Happy New Year, Potter," he sneered, and snogged Harry.

**Author's note:** The title is from Lord Byron's "The Corsair."

* * *

**Auld Acquaintance**

When Draco entered the Main Hall, the New Year's Eve party was in full swing. The Weird Sisters' music reverberated, making the candle flames waver – unless that was just the breeze from the wild, and to Draco's mind lowbred, Muggle-style dancing. He had dressed in formal velvet robes, so deep a green as to be almost black, a sinuous pattern embroidered in silver on cuffs and hem.

Before he could reach the dance floor, a tug on his sleeve pulled him behind one of the enormous Christmas trees.

"I couldn't wait till midnight," said Potter, just as their lips met.


	3. Nox Prima Hermionae

**Author's note:** This R-rated drabble was written for thrihyrne's birthday.

**Nox Prima Hermionae**

"Ouch."

"Sorry." Ron tried shifting his weight to his other elbow. "Is that better?"

"Yes."

For half a minute faint creaks and the rustle of bedclothes was all that could be heard.

"There?"

"Let me. . ." Hermione tilted her hips back. "Try now."

This time Ron managed to push inside. "Wow, Hermione," he said in a tone of wonder.

She suppressed the desire to giggle, and kissed him.

Within moments he said, "Oh. . . oh!" and then, anxiously, "I'm sorry. . . was that all right for you?"

"It was fine." All the books she had read had not told her very much after all.


	4. In the Name of Science

**In the Name of Science**

"Why are you here?" Grey eyes peered at her quizzically.

Hermione tried to stifle a giggle, then gave in and laughed aloud. "What kind of question is that, Draco, after last night?" She flung back the covers and sat up, her nipples crinkling in the chilly air. "I'm here because you invited me and I wanted to come. No pun intended," she added as his eyebrows rose.

His narrow hand tugged her back beneath the sheet. "I seem to remember you wanted to find out whether pure blood ran hotter. Did you?"

"It needs further investigation," she admitted, kissing him. 


	5. Saving Draco

The following drabble was written for the June challenge at The Hex Files; in honor of Draco Malfoy's birthday on June 5, in which the following three words were to be used per the birthday drabble custom in that group: selfless, extraordinary, devastating.

**Saving Draco**

Harry had never thought of himself as being particularly selfless. While he was perfectly willing to help out a friend, he went to no extraordinary lengths to seek out anyone in trouble and improve their lot. He had enough difficulties keeping himself out of trouble, thank you very much. But after the devastating results of the final elimination of Voldemort, when Hermione told him of the situation Draco Malfoy was in, he hesitated not one moment. Harry was the only person still alive who knew that without Draco's double-cross, it would be Harry who now lay cold in the ground. 


	6. A Noble Sport

This drabble was written by request for C. Dumbledore's birthday at The Hex Files, who asked that it include the words hood, strap, and wand.

**A Noble Sport**

"What are these straps for?"

Draco sighed, fumbling with the hood he was trying to remove from the falcon's head. "They're called jesses, Harry. They're like a collar, you attach a leash to them to hold the bird to the perch."

"Oh." Harry tapped his wand impatiently and Draco reached out to pluck it from his fingers before he upset the bird any further. "Why are we doing this again?"

"Because falconry is a noble sport, you git, and you asked what I liked to do in my free time."

"Yeah, but I thought it would be something more... gratifying."


	7. Virginity

The following is a double drabble (200 words) in which Harry muses on what it is to be a virgin.

**Virginity**

What did it mean for a boy to be a virgin, anyway? Harry pondered the question as he untied the laces of his trainers and slowly took off his ro certainly as nervous as if he had never been with anyone else at all. So even though he had thought about it a lot, and decided that yes, he really wanted this, he nevertheless jumped when Draco said, "Please, Harry? Now?"

the World Quidditch Cup. A few times since, as well. And while he and Ginny had never officially "had sex," they had done pretty much everything but. Losing your virginity meant a lot more for a girl, he supposed, and she had not quite reached the point of being ready to lose it before they broke up, despite having a Contraceptive Charm that Hermione had looked up for her. So did that leave Harry a virgin still? Maybe it did. He was unsure. He was certainly as nervous as if he had never been with anyone else at all. So even though he had thought about it a lot, and decided that yes, he really wanted this, he nevertheless jumped when Draco said, "Please, Harry? Now?" 


	8. Genealogy

A double drabble, 200 words, written by request for darkladyothsith.

**Genealogy**

The old tapestry had hung in the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor since Draco could remember. He knew, in fact, that it had been there for several generations, taken down only for cleaning and to stitch in the most recent additions to the Malfoy clan. It was so familiar that he had never really looked at it until this summer holiday. But now his father was imprisoned in Azkaban, his mother drifted helplessly around the house, and Draco had little to occupy his time. At his order the house-elves had brought a rolling ladder down from the library, and he was tracing his ancestry backward, nose close to the dusty fabric as he moved higher and higher up the wall. Suddenly a crash shook the entire entrance.

When, later, Draco had had liniment applied to each of his contusions, a bandage wrapped around his sprained wrist, and an ice pack placed on the bump that purpled his forehead, his mother came into his room to ask how he had fallen from the ladder. Draco was unable to answer. The crack to his head had completely erased the memory of his shock at seeing the name "Helga Hufflepuff" among his ancestors.  



	9. Practice Makes Perfect

A double drabble, 200 words, written by request for admedievalist.  
**  
Practice Makes Perfect**

"What if he tries to kiss you?"

"Sorry, what did you say, Ginny?" Hermione frowned at the mirror and poured out another dollop of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion.

Ginny was curled up on Hermione's bed, her own dress robes laid out waiting for the Yule Ball. "What if Viktor tries to kiss you? When you're dancing, or something?"

"Oh," Hermione flushed. "I doubt he would."

"I think he might," Ginny said. "He really likes you, I've seen him watching from across the Hall."

"Well, if he does, he does," said Hermione briskly.

"Aren't you nervous about it?"

Hermione turned around and looked at her. "Are you trying to make me nervous?"

"No." Ginny traced patterns on the rug with her toe. "I'm worried about Neville. I've never kissed a boy. What if he tries and I do it wrong?"

"I don't think Neville's likely to criticize," said Hermione, with an impish grin. "Do you, really?"

"I suppose not," Ginny said. "I thought, maybe, we should practice?"

"The two of us?" Hermione looked startled.

Ginny nodded, her face red. "You're the only one I trusted not to laugh."

Hermione's lips were soft against hers, and suddenly Ginny was not worried any more. 


	10. Because

**Because**

"Really, Hermione, we thought you'd've gone for someone else. Viktor Krum, maybe, he was always mad about you. Why Ron?"

It was Parvati who asked, but half a dozen other girls' faces mirrored her curiosity. Hermione had known that having a hen night was asking for trouble, but Ginny had begged her to follow the Muggle custom, and she had given in.

"I mean, we know he saved your life and all, but still..."

Hermione wondered if the slight face Lavender pulled wasn't jealousy, although one would think after six years and at least eight other boyfriends, Lavender would have no feelings left for Ron at all.

Why Ron? Because when he kissed her, even now when they'd been together for five years, her knees got weak. Because he knew when she needed him to pound into her hard enough to forget everything, and when to whisper to her that they'd never forget anything, and when just to hold her tightly. Because it had been Ron who had beaten her to Harry's body and carried it back as carefully as if he might still be alive.

"Because I love him," she said, looking at Ginny. "Because you can't mourn forever."


	11. Appearances

The following was written for cruisedirector's birthday, and is basically crackfic.

**Appearances**

"So, 'ow did you know?" Fleur shifted lazily in the rumpled linen. "Zat you wanted me instead of 'im."

"When I caught him wanking one night, moaning 'Severus, yes,' as he came," said Tonks. "And then I saw you looking as annoyed with Bill as I felt with Remus, so I thought..." she shrugged.

"Maybe I would be intrigued?" Fleur said. "With a Metamorphmagus who can be either a man or a woman?"

"Yes."

"You 'ad good sense to think that," said Fleur, "but your fashion sense... 'ave you considered blue 'air instead of pink? It would suit you better."


	12. Hermione and Ron

For admedievalist, holiday 2005. The prompt was to do a totally canonical Hermione and Ron, maybe the day she noticed him as attractive. My muse made me write two drabbles.

**Rival**

He had been her friend for years, he and Harry both. She was used to arguing with him, poking him in the ribs if he was being silly, correcting his essays just as she did for Harry. If she ever thought about it, she assumed it would always be so – the three of them, best friends. But little by little things had changed. There was the moment when he asked her to the Yule Ball, far too late. That should have warned her. But it took Lavender Brown's absolutely transparent play for him to crystalize her understanding: Hermione loved Ron.

**Watching**

She watched him flying on the Quidditch field. That was safe enough, the spectators were supposed to be watching the players. She watched him during class. Mostly no one noticed, since they were used to Hermione finishing everything first anyhow and having time to spare. She watched him at meals, in the Gryffindor common room, everywhere. She memorized the pattern of freckles on his nose and the way his red hair clung to the back of his neck when it was damp, and she went all wet-crotched when he brushed against her, even when he was walking toward Lavender instead.


	13. A Yule Gift

This one is for cruisedirector, holiday 2005. She asked for HP in the over-30 generation, with the prompt, "A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou."

**A Yule Gift**

One Yule Lucius gave him a volume of Muggle poetry, bound in calfskin, gleaming with gilt. Severus thanked him with a galloping fuck that left them both sore and satisfied for days, but his thanks were for the thoughtfulness – poetry held no interest for him.

When he hears that Lucius is in Azkaban, Severus takes down the book from his shelves. For the first time he notices a faded ribbon marking a page, and turns to it.

"A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou..." he reads, and then his sight blurs and he can read no more.


	14. Benison

A quadruple drabble written for holiday 2005 for dorothynoland, who said she'd love to read Cedric/Harry.

**Benison**

Cedric worries about the tournament most of the time. He was happy and proud when his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, but he keeps hearing Professor Dumbledore's voice saying, "The death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued." He feels sorry for Potter; he believed it when the fourth-year said that he had not put in his name for the competition. Harry's look of terrified bewilderment was too revealing not to be genuine.

When Harry comes up to him in the corridor and warns him that the first task is dragons, Cedric is unsure whether he is telling the truth, but decides to take the chance and prepare as if it were.

And it is dragons, and Cedric is at least prepared with some ideas of what to do. He Transfigures a rock and manages to secure the golden egg guarded by the Swedish Short-Snout, though it takes him a long time and he ties with Fleur Delacour for third place. But he knows that without Harry's warning, he might have been too startled and frightened to do that well. He follows Harry one Saturday after lunch and says, "Want to have a little Quidditch practice?"

Harry looks surprised, but agrees. Cedric has a Snitch and they play for several hours, just the two of them, each catching it twice. He is impressed with Harry's ability; of course he knows that Harry was the youngest Seeker in a century, but Harry's style reveals practice as well as raw talent. They exchange a few tricks, too. Cedric will leave Hogwarts in the spring, it is his seventh year, and he will never play for Hufflepuff again.

In midafternoon Harry signals that he is ready to stop. They meet on the ground. "I have to write a Potions essay," he explains.

Cedric nods, holding his broomstick, but does not move to leave.

"What?" says Harry. "What is it?"

Cedric steps close, and Harry does not back away as Cedric leans down and brushes his lips against Harry's.

Harry's eyes widen and he puts out one hand, catching the sleeve of Cedric's robe. They kiss again, standing on the wet grass where little tendrils of mist are beginning to rise. No one is likely to come out here and see them, but Cedric is wary of being caught, and after a few minutes he lets Harry go.

"Thanks."


	15. Repose

This drabble was requested by edoraslass for holiday 2005, specifying something with Mad-eye Moody, non-shippy, pre-Goblet of Fire, with the prompt "bunny rabbit."

**Repose**

Alastor Moody was irritable. Not that this was an unusual feeling for him; he had spent most of the last twenty years in a bad mood. It was part of what made him a good Auror. Every now and then, though, he needed to remind himself why it was important to track down the remaining Death Eaters and see them properly tried and gaoled in Azkaban. Today was such a day. He went out into the garden and knelt, painfully, next to the hutch where his bunny rabbit lived. "Time to play, Dandelion," he said, and stroked the soft pelt.


	16. Necessity

For holiday 2005, fleshdress asked for something with Sirius or Draco, and gave the prompt quote, "Necessity has no law." This double drabble was the result.

**Necessity**

Necessity has no law.

Lucius Malfoy said that over and over during Draco's childhood, and Draco believes it. It is necessary to survive. He owes it to his family to survive. If he must humble himself before the Boy Who Lived, even if he must leave the allegiance of his father to Lord Voldemort – it is necessary. He can continue to loathe the Potter boy, to keep secret his wish to be a Death Eater in truth. So he tells himself, as the days become weeks become months become years.

Necessity has no law.

He chants it to himself as Harry pursues him, asking him to the pub one month, to dinner the next, to his apartment the one following. Harry is the darling of the wizarding world; the Malfoy name is still under a cloud of suspicion. If Harry wants him, he will do what he must. After a year he accepts Harry's suggestion that they live together. It is survival. Harry agrees that Draco can see women, father children on them, when Draco tells him how important that is to any Malfoy.

Necessity has no law.

But one day Draco realizes that his necessity has become his love.


	17. Imprisoned

For holiday 2005, ldybastet said, "I'm a Lucius/Severus girl all the way... perhaps a post-war musing moment, small conversation over a glass of wine? Both living, doesn't matter which side won really, as long as they're both fine." This was the closest the muse could manage.

**Imprisoned**

Severus does not like visitors, but Lucius ignores that. He ignores, too, the curiosity of his wife and son as to where he goes every other Tuesday. If it had not been for Severus, Lucius would be either dead or still rotting in Azkaban.

Each time he brings a bottle of finest firewhisky with him, and each time they drink it all before he leaves. At first Severus would only drink in silence. None of Lucius's words or touches reached him. But lately he has begun to respond, and Lucius hopes to waken both mind and body fully once again.


	18. In the Beginning

This drabble is for neogrammarian for holiday 2005, who simply said that if I had a character I wanted to write, she'd take a drabble on that, and if not, no worries.

**In the Beginning**

From the moment she gets onto the Hogwarts Express, Hermione is well aware of her liabilities: Muggle-born, not pretty, too clever for her own good. She is determined that she will make each one into an asset. She will do her best to be the top in every class, better than any of the pure-bloods. She decides not to care about her appearance, reminding herself that true beauty is within, that loyalty and honor and courage and love are far more important than prettiness. And she will use her cleverness to help her friends – as soon as she makes any.


	19. First Day

The final holiday 2005 drabble to be posted was for vulgarweed, who asked for a character moment for McGonagall.

**First Day**

When she had begun teaching, each year the first-years seemed to be younger and more foolish. After a dozen years, that impression had ceased, but this year's entering students brought it back again. Minerva looked around the classroom and shook her head. Two empty seats. Perhaps it was not unexpected that Harry Potter would not know how to find his way around a magical building, although young Miss Granger had managed perfectly well. Minerva only hoped that Ronald Weasley's tardiness did not indicate he would follow in his nearest brothers' footsteps. Transfiguring back into human form, she snapped, "You're late."


End file.
